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Description
To begin, let me put some clarification on this title so I don't confuse anybody. It has to do with something the Holy Spirit pointed out to me one day. You see, when I was a kid, I was taught that you should read your bible every day. I was told that I should do this for several reasons. Basically the gist of them were, it will make you smarter, it will cause you to be able to do the right thing and it will make God pleased with you. In children's church, we even sang a song about it. Something like "if you read your bible every day you will grow… if you DON'T read your bible every day you will shrink!" The tone that went along with this song in our classroom was sort of like; if you read your bible every day, God will be pleased with you and be good to you. If you don't, bad things will happen. Or at least, God will not be pleased with you.

Throughout my childhood, I met several people who did "read their bible every day", and they bragged about it. The attitude that I got from them was one of "I read my bible every day, so God likes me. I read my bible every day because this is what you are supposed to do. And I do it. So it pleases God." Because of this, I began to develop a negative opinion about people who said that they "read their bible every day".

I became a Christian and understood salvation when I was 11 years old. I never read the bible until I was about 18. I had read bible stories, like the ones they put in books for children. I had listened to people read the bible. But I never opened an actual bible for myself.

One day I was watching something on TV, some kind of interview, in which a person commented that "… actually I read my bible every day." I rolled my eyes at this. Then the Holy Spirit said to me, "What are you rolling your eyes for? You read your bible every day." As crazy as this seems, I was caught off guard and totally surprised by this. I began to think about it. I thought about the past few days and weeks. I realized that it was true. Recently I had been reading my bible EVERY DAY. And I never even noticed!!! I never noticed what I was doing until God pointed it out to me! Oh no! What have I become?! I do read my bible every day, but I wasn't doing it on purpose I swear!

So what is the difference here? I became a Christian when I was 11 years old. Even before that, when I was a little kid I was taught that I was supposed to read my bible every day to please God. But I had never even opened the thing. What was different now? At the time when God showed this to me, I had only really been reading the bible for about a year. And I had only recently gotten to a point where I was reading it every day without noticing.

So what happened to me? Why was I reading the bible every day now? Well I have learned several things about the true Gospel that have dramatically changed my relationship with Jesus. But for this, I'm going to discuss the bible reading thing.

What was the difference? The motive for reading the bible was the difference.

All my life I had been taught that you were supposed to read the bible to please God. If you read the bible, God will put favor on you. This was the reason I was given to read the bible. And I never opened it. But recently I had learned that this was false. The Holy Spirit had lead me to the real reason you should read the bible. And it countered what I had been taught before.

You don't read the bible to "make" God put favor on you! You read the bible to "learn" about the favor He has already put on you!

The bible isn't just some book we are supposed to read because God says so. Its ALIVE! Reading the bible can't make God love you any more than He already does. Not reading your bible does not make God displeased with you! God is already pleased with you because of what Jesus accomplished. God loves you. And He counts you as righteous not because of your own obedience, but by Christ's obedience at the cross! "Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us." (Romans 5:1)

God's word is life and health to your flesh. (Proverbs 4:20-22). The bible is God's love letter to us. It's all about Jesus and what he has won for you. It contains information about who you are in Christ, God's beloved, and all of the blessings that have been made available to you because of the finished work of Christ. This is the reason you should read the bible. Because once you know what Christ has made available, you can take advantage of it!

Once I finally understood this, of course I wanted to read the bible! Through teaching from others, I started learning about all of the things that Christ had won for me. And I wanted to know more! I became HUNGRY for more of God's word. Beloved, if you don't read your bible every day you should not feel guilty. You should feel hungry! The more of God's living word that I read, the more I became hungry for it. It's very addicting. The more I began to read, the more I wanted. I became hungrier and hungrier until I was experiencing this hunger every day.

If you don't know how to read the bible, that's ok. I didn't think I could ever understand it either. That's where the Holy Spirit can help. He is your helper, and He will explain things to you. Start sitting under the bible teaching about the Gospel of someone else and "gleaning" from the revelation knowledge from God that they have. Here is a question to ask to help you tell if what someone is teaching is the real Gospel or not: Does it point to Jesus' finished work rather than your work, build you up and encourage you? Eventually, you will be able to read the bible for yourself and you will be able to hear God speaking to you through it.

Description
To begin, let me put some clarification on this title so I don't confuse anybody. It has to do with something the Holy Spirit pointed out to me one day. You see, when I was a kid, I was taught that you should read your bible every day. I was told that I should do this for several reasons. Basically the gist of them were, it will make you smarter, it will cause you to be able to do the right thing and it will make God pleased with you. In children's church, we even sang a song about it. Something like "if you read your bible every day you will grow… if you DON'T read your bible every day you will shrink!" The tone that went along with this song in our classroom was sort of like; if you read your bible every day, God will be pleased with you and be good to you. If you don't, bad things will happen. Or at least, God will not be pleased with you.

Throughout my childhood, I met several people who did "read their bible every day", and they bragged about it. The attitude that I got from them was one of "I read my bible every day, so God likes me. I read my bible every day because this is what you are supposed to do. And I do it. So it pleases God." Because of this, I began to develop a negative opinion about people who said that they "read their bible every day".

I became a Christian and understood salvation when I was 11 years old. I never read the bible until I was about 18. I had read bible stories, like the ones they put in books for children. I had listened to people read the bible. But I never opened an actual bible for myself.

One day I was watching something on TV, some kind of interview, in which a person commented that "… actually I read my bible every day." I rolled my eyes at this. Then the Holy Spirit said to me, "What are you rolling your eyes for? You read your bible every day." As crazy as this seems, I was caught off guard and totally surprised by this. I began to think about it. I thought about the past few days and weeks. I realized that it was true. Recently I had been reading my bible EVERY DAY. And I never even noticed!!! I never noticed what I was doing until God pointed it out to me! Oh no! What have I become?! I do read my bible every day, but I wasn't doing it on purpose I swear!

So what is the difference here? I became a Christian when I was 11 years old. Even before that, when I was a little kid I was taught that I was supposed to read my bible every day to please God. But I had never even opened the thing. What was different now? At the time when God showed this to me, I had only really been reading the bible for about a year. And I had only recently gotten to a point where I was reading it every day without noticing.

So what happened to me? Why was I reading the bible every day now? Well I have learned several things about the true Gospel that have dramatically changed my relationship with Jesus. But for this, I'm going to discuss the bible reading thing.

What was the difference? The motive for reading the bible was the difference.

All my life I had been taught that you were supposed to read the bible to please God. If you read the bible, God will put favor on you. This was the reason I was given to read the bible. And I never opened it. But recently I had learned that this was false. The Holy Spirit had lead me to the real reason you should read the bible. And it countered what I had been taught before.

You don't read the bible to "make" God put favor on you! You read the bible to "learn" about the favor He has already put on you!

The bible isn't just some book we are supposed to read because God says so. Its ALIVE! Reading the bible can't make God love you any more than He already does. Not reading your bible does not make God displeased with you! God is already pleased with you because of what Jesus accomplished. God loves you. And He counts you as righteous not because of your own obedience, but by Christ's obedience at the cross! "Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us." (Romans 5:1)

God's word is life and health to your flesh. (Proverbs 4:20-22). The bible is God's love letter to us. It's all about Jesus and what he has won for you. It contains information about who you are in Christ, God's beloved, and all of the blessings that have been made available to you because of the finished work of Christ. This is the reason you should read the bible. Because once you know what Christ has made available, you can take advantage of it!

Once I finally understood this, of course I wanted to read the bible! Through teaching from others, I started learning about all of the things that Christ had won for me. And I wanted to know more! I became HUNGRY for more of God's word. Beloved, if you don't read your bible every day you should not feel guilty. You should feel hungry! The more of God's living word that I read, the more I became hungry for it. It's very addicting. The more I began to read, the more I wanted. I became hungrier and hungrier until I was experiencing this hunger every day.

If you don't know how to read the bible, that's ok. I didn't think I could ever understand it either. That's where the Holy Spirit can help. He is your helper, and He will explain things to you. Start sitting under the bible teaching about the Gospel of someone else and "gleaning" from the revelation knowledge from God that they have. Here is a question to ask to help you tell if what someone is teaching is the real Gospel or not: Does it point to Jesus' finished work rather than your work, build you up and encourage you? Eventually, you will be able to read the bible for yourself and you will be able to hear God speaking to you through it.